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The Talking Dead: Articulating the “Zombified” Subject Under Putin

Eliot Borenstein, New York University

5/13/2019
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Carson L01
Intended Audience(s): Public
Categories: Clubs & Organizations, Conferences, Lectures & Seminars

In the current Russian media environment, commentators of all political stripes are on the lookout for propaganda and its effects.  The war in Ukraine, for example, has prompted accusations that the Russian, Ukrainian, and Western media are brainwashing their audiences.  The Russian term most frequently invoked is “zombification”:  the transformation of otherwise potentially rational TV viewers into unthinking husks due to the pernicious effects of the “зомбоящик” (the “zombie box,” which is the Russian equivalent to “boob tube.”)  The casual but pervasive discourse of zombification has itself exerted a powerful hold on the Russian consciousness.  This talk will examine the deep Cold War roots and the discourses of mind control or “zombification” in Russia under Putin.

Borenstein is a literary critic and cultural historian who writes about modern and postmodern Russia. He is the author of three books. His early publications dealt largely with issues of sexuality and masculinity in Slavic literature. His first monograph, Men Without Women: Masculinity and Revolution in Russian Fiction, 1917-1929 (Duke UP), won the AATSEEL prize for best book on literature and culture in 2001. He followed that publication with two additional projects on contemporary Russia: Overkill: Sex and Violence in Contemporary Russian Culture (Cornell UP) and Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism (forthcoming from Cornell UP). He is also the editor of the highly popular ‘All the Russia’s’ blog, which he maintains in association with the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russian at NYU.

Free and open to the public

Sponsored by the Society of Fellows and Russian Department

For more information, contact:
Carol Bean-Carmody
carol.a.bean-carmody@dartmouth.edu
Permanent URL to this event: https://eeer.dartmouth.edu/events/event?event=56234

Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.